The Warlord's Son (35 page)
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
NO, I AM NOT SKELLY. My wife and children will attest to that, although without their attractions I might have become some pale version of him, forever restless in search of the far-flung story. But I do proudly claim membership in the esteemed tribe of the foreign correspondent, whose members have taught me a lifetime of lessons with unflagging humor, expertise, professionalism and esprit de corps. Dozens come to mind whom I should thank, but for space reasons I’ll limit it here to Barry Bearak, Bill Glauber, Michael Hedges, Tom Hundley, Stephanie Nolen and Doug Struck. I also wish to honor the memory of Azizullah Haidari, Harry Burton, Maria Grazia Cutuli and Julio Fuentes, who were killed on the road to Kabul; and also of Michael Kelly and Elizabeth Neuffer, former colleagues and traveling companions, who lost their lives while reporting from Iraq. Their determined work will outlast us all.
None of our tribe’s accomplishments would be possible without all the world’s fixers, some of whom would even put Najeeb in the shade, such as Rafi Sayad in Jalalabad, Mahmood Khattak in Peshawar, Muhammad Azfar Karim in Islamabad and Aimal Khan in Quetta. Thanks also to driver Mohammed Hassan, whose quick thinking and lead foot saved five lives.
For insight and advice on various matters on which I am probably still at sea—no blame to them, and all to me—many thanks to Dr. Rukhsana Siddiqui at Quaid-i-Azam University in Islamabad, Dr. Mumtaz A. Bangash of Peshawar University and Dr. Charles T. Lindholm of Boston University, particularly with regard to Dr. Lindholm’s
Generosity and Jealousy
(Columbia University Press, 1982), his excellent study of daily life among the tribal Pashtuns of northern Pakistan.
Thanks also to Ahmed and Shah Wali Karzai, for the time and hospitality they offered in Quetta, affording me a glimpse inside the Afghan diaspora even while their brother, Hamid, was risking his life across the border, succeeding where others failed. May their country someday heal its wounds and finally live in peace.
To my knowledgeable and supportive foreign editors at
The Baltimore Sun,
Jeff Price in the old days and Robert Ruby in the new, many thanks for all the opportunities, but especially for the trust. And much gratitude to my outstanding editors, Sonny Mehta in New York and Selina Walker in London, for their encouragement and unerring guidance. Thanks as well to peerless agent Jane Chelius, there from the beginning.
But as always I reserve the highest praise and affection for the people at home, the best destination of all: parents Bill and Ginny, my sister, Laverne, my wife, Liz, and my children Emma and Will, who inspire more loyalty and devotion than any lordly
malik.
DAN FESPERMAN
THE WARLORD’S SON
Dan Fesperman is a former foreign correspondent who worked in
The Baltimore Sun
’s Berlin bureau during the years of civil war in the former Yugoslavia, as well as in Afghanistan during the recent conflict.
Lie in the Dark
won the Crime Writers Association of Britain’s John Creasey Memorial Dagger Award for best first crime novel, and
The Small Boat of Great Sorrows
won its Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award for best thriller. His Web site is
www.danfesperman.com
.
ALSO BY DAN FESPERMAN
The Small Boat of Great Sorrows
Lie in the Dark
FIRST VINTAGE CRIME/BLACK LIZARD EDITION, SEPTEMBER 2005
Copyright © 2004 by Dan Fesperman
Vintage is a registered trademark and Vintage Crime/Black Lizard
and colophon are trademarks of Random House, Inc.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents
either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events,
or locales is entirely coincidental.
The Library of Congress has cataloged the Knopf edition as follows:
Fesperman, Dan.
The warlord’s son : a novel / by Dan Fesperman.
p. cm.
1. Americans—Afghanistan—Fiction. 2. Pakistanis—Afghanistan—Fiction.
3. Afghanistan—Fiction. 4. Translators—Fiction. 5. Journalists—Fiction.
I. Title.
PS3556.E778W37 2004
813’.54—dc22
2004011841
eISBN: 978-0-307-42956-8
v3.0
